Conceptualizations of Equity in Education Policy: Moving Toward Justice

• In Event: Constructing Equity at the Federal and State Level

Abstract

Definitions of equity vary widely across education policies at all levels of the policy landscape. This conceptual paper develops a framework for analyzing conceptualizations of equity in education policy and how power operates through policy to influence individual actions and policy at other levels. Using this framework, I analyze instantiations of Common Core State Standards at federal, state, local, and teacher levels, surfacing the benefits of aligning policy at different levels to the same conceptualization of equity and the tensions that exist when they are misaligned. I conclude with methodological considerations for critical approaches to policy analysis and argue that policy must take up conceptualizations of equity as justice to move beyond reliance on societal or achievement gaps.

Author

• Brett Baldauf, University of Washington
  Presenting Author